"... The biblical writers portray God as a righteous judge to whom the oppressed may turn in the expectation of finding the justice they seek. However, God is sovereign also in his manner of dispensing justice. It is this sovereignty that gives rise to so much of the perplexity expressed. If God is able to withhold punishment and show mercy, then God’s exercise of justice does not proceed according to a formula (Psalm 30:5; 85:1-3; 103:10). Seifrid observes that there are more than four times as many references to a “saving righteousness” in the Old Testament than to punitive divine justice; thus, there has been significant discussion as to whether God’s righteousness is to be seen as primarily relational, consistent with his saving purposes toward the elect, or norm based and retributive. This question cannot be explored in the present article, but it may be the case that a resolution is to be found in an understanding of the character of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33), with its congruence of covenantal relationship and heart-inscribed righteousness. Sometimes the involvement of God in the administration of justice is not in the foreground (Esther), which might lead us to assume that the writer accepted with equanimity the fact that God seems inactive, remote or hidden. More commonly, the distance of God compounds the distress factor, all the more perplexing because it seems out of character for God to be silent to his people’s pleas, or worse, actively hostile toward them (Job 13:24; 24:1; 34:29; Psalm 10:1; 13:1; 44:24; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2) ..."